The Crossroad
by m00shrum
Summary: Atemu is the lead singer of a rock band from Egypt, going on tour in Japan. Yuugi is a shy and caring boy who attends Domino High. Will love blossom? Or will the dark secrets they've been hiding keep them separated from each other? [DISCONTINUED]


PROLOGUE

A woman dressed in a white nurse's outfit silently walked through the haunted hospital corriders, her heels clicking against the cold tiles. Occasionally, she would peer through the small glass windows of patient rooms, just to see if there was any trouble. But it was always the usual: peacefully sleeping patients, their relatives bent over the white bed, sobbing in agony into the once-sterile sheets. Perhaps after all these years, she had grown indifferent to the pain of visitors, their tears nothing more than a source of comfort for themselves.

The room at the end of the corrider suddenly caught her attention. It was deadly silent, yet she could almost feel the presence of another person. She paused for a moment, listening intently at the door, but heard nothing but the sound of breathing through an oxygen mask. Her heart beat rapidly against her chest for some unknown reason as she peeked through the window.

An old man was lying face up on his bed, his face relaxed, lips turned upward in a faint smile. But what caught her eye was the small child, tenderly tucking the old man in, pale slender fingers folding the sheets at the patient's neck. She felt a lump at her throat as the child gently touched the wrinkled face, leaning forward to kiss the old man's forehead. No wonder the patient was smiling in his sleep. Who wouldn't smile with such a loving grandchild?

Gathering her courage, she knocked lightly on the door, careful not to startle the child.

"Come in," a gentle voice replied. It sounded so helpless and desperate, yet so strong. She slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open, gasping softly as the child turned to face her. It was a boy, a beautiful young man with a porcelain face and large amethyst eyes so full of innocent compassion. But there were no tears, only a glint of painful determination the nurse had never seen from a visitor, or anyone at all, even after years of working in the hospital.

"Is everything all right in here?" she whispered, unable to tear her gaze from the boy's sweet face.

He nodded slightly, looking back and forth between the nurse and his grandfather.

It was silent for a moment, and the nurse faltered for the first time since she could remember. "May I… come in? I mean, I don't wish to intrude or anything…" Her voice trailed off and she swallowed, glancing around nervously.

The boy's lower lip trembled as he turned away. "Will he…" he murmured shakily, taking the old man's hand in his own. "Will he be okay? I mean, without surgery? The doctor says he won't make it if he doesn't undergo surgery by within the next month."

The nurse carefully closed the door behind her, taking the empty seat next to the boy. "Do you think he can?" she questioned gently.

"I… I don't know."

It was almost painful for the nurse as the boy lowered his head into his chest. She desperately wanted to take the boy into her arms and tell him everything would be all right, but that would only be a lie. But then again, everything here was a lie, wasn't it? All the sobbing family members, the straight-faced doctors in white lab coats… Nothing was real, and yet, at the same time, everything was.

Suddenly, the boy looked up, a new emotion glimmering powerfully in his eyes as he turned to face the nurse. "Yes," he whispered, almost fiercely. The nurse glanced at him, taken aback. "My grandfather can make it." The boy stood, unhooking his jacket from the wall and throwing it around his shoulders. "Can you do me a favor?"

The nurse nodded, speechless, as she stared dazedly at the strange and wonderful boy.

"Tell the doctor I'll have the money for my grandfather's surgery by the end of the month. And if my grandfather wakes up, please reassure him that he will be just fine, and that I will be back to see him tomorrow." He paused for a moment to catch his breath. "Thank you."

Completely stunned by the boy's impulsiveness, the nurse watched as he grabbed his scarf and slipped out the door, rapid footsteps echoing down the vacant halls. It was as if she had known a painfully shy little boy for years, and that spirit just flew away.

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Note: New fic? Yes. New angst fic? Of course! The prologue is short, but I guarantee you the later chapters will be much longer than the chapters from my other fic, so no worries. Hehehe. Yami comes in from Egypt in the next chapter! Whee! And so do the rest of the characters… er, yeah. And if you haven't figured it out, the boy in this chapter is Yuugi.

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To my readers: I haven't given up on my other fic! I SWEAR!

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To LauraTheCat (who came up with this brilliant idea for my prologue): Thank you so much for the idea!

Please review! I always like to know what people think of new fics. =]


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